WOW! You DO have a problem :-( Are you absolutely sure it's the earwigs? I've never seen any earwig damage to that severe an extent. I'd be much more likely to suspect some sort of caterpillar/larval issue, like cutworms or something similar, especially on the vine that has been totally skeletonized.

I assume you've been out late evening with your flashlight checking all the foliage to suss out the exact culprits?

Yes, I have. No cutworms or larvae. Loads of earwigs. It really seems to worse in certain areas where the soil is dry from the neighbor's Doug firs and I've used wooden structures. I think the earwigs hide in the lattice during the day. I've had them go into the cracks as I'm trying to smash them.

Helios is the skeletonized one. In previous years it happened right away as it grew but this year I used Sluggo Plus and it grew to six feet without damage. But, I have to go to Seattle for two weeks every August and this year I had to go to Atlanta for a week for work and everything dried out. DH didn't spread any Sluggo either. Maybe this was a factor, maybe not. I don't know.

Yep, if they were my plants I would pull out all the guns including systemics. I couldn't live with plants chomped to bits like that. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead with whatever will kill the buggers!

I found an unopened bottle of that systemic rose and flower care that you water the plant with instead of spraying in my shed. Good grief, I had it all along. Did I manage to use it yesterday? Nooooo. It has fertilizer in it as well but I think one dose now won't be too bad, frost is a long way off for us. It is labeled for weevils on Rhodies too. Why oh why didn't I use it earlier????

i understand sevin will take care of the earwigs (??) ~~ a systemic such as merit (??) ~~ desperate times call for desperate measures ~~ ducking now to miss all the arrows aimed at me from ~~ well, you know who ~~ sorry

Thanks for posting pics to help educate the newbies such as myself - I'll know what damage to keep an eye out for.

I'm still torn about the whole discussion in an earlier post about treating my clems with systemics but also attracting hummingbirds to my yard this year. So far, I haven't noticed any real damage, but have seen an earwig or two. If it gets that bad, I may have to give in.

Actually, that's what one of my petunias looks like this year (though not as bad), even though I already treated it with a systemic at the end of July. Maybe it's slugs? I have it in a pot on the ground....I'll try Sluggo and see if that helps, but with the weather getting colder it may not be an issue much longer anyway.